diff --git a/ts/background.ts b/ts/background.ts
index 231b11a94..9a829f5c7 100644
--- a/ts/background.ts
+++ b/ts/background.ts
@@ -850,7 +850,8 @@ export async function startApp(): Promise<void> {
       `Starting background data migration. Target version: ${Message.CURRENT_SCHEMA_VERSION}`
     );
     idleDetector.on('idle', async () => {
-      const NUM_MESSAGES_PER_BATCH = 1;
+      const NUM_MESSAGES_PER_BATCH = 100;
+      const BATCH_DELAY = 5 * durations.SECOND;
 
       if (!isMigrationWithIndexComplete) {
         const batchWithIndex = await migrateMessageData({
@@ -858,15 +859,22 @@ export async function startApp(): Promise<void> {
           upgradeMessageSchema,
           getMessagesNeedingUpgrade:
             window.Signal.Data.getMessagesNeedingUpgrade,
-          saveMessage: window.Signal.Data.saveMessage,
+          saveMessages: window.Signal.Data.saveMessages,
         });
         log.info('Upgrade message schema (with index):', batchWithIndex);
         isMigrationWithIndexComplete = batchWithIndex.done;
       }
 
+      idleDetector.stop();
+
       if (isMigrationWithIndexComplete) {
         log.info('Background migration complete. Stopping idle detector.');
-        idleDetector.stop();
+      } else {
+        log.info('Background migration not complete. Pausing idle detector.');
+
+        setTimeout(() => {
+          idleDetector.start();
+        }, BATCH_DELAY);
       }
     });
 
diff --git a/ts/messages/migrateMessageData.ts b/ts/messages/migrateMessageData.ts
index d20470252..3d1ba4fe8 100644
--- a/ts/messages/migrateMessageData.ts
+++ b/ts/messages/migrateMessageData.ts
@@ -2,9 +2,15 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-only
 
 import { isFunction, isNumber } from 'lodash';
+import pMap from 'p-map';
+
 import { CURRENT_SCHEMA_VERSION } from '../types/Message2';
+import { isNotNil } from '../util/isNotNil';
 import type { MessageAttributesType } from '../model-types.d';
 import type { UUIDStringType } from '../types/UUID';
+import * as Errors from '../types/errors';
+
+const MAX_CONCURRENCY = 5;
 
 /**
  * Ensures that messages in database are at the right schema.
@@ -13,7 +19,7 @@ export async function migrateMessageData({
   numMessagesPerBatch,
   upgradeMessageSchema,
   getMessagesNeedingUpgrade,
-  saveMessage,
+  saveMessages,
   maxVersion = CURRENT_SCHEMA_VERSION,
 }: Readonly<{
   numMessagesPerBatch: number;
@@ -25,10 +31,10 @@ export async function migrateMessageData({
     limit: number,
     options: { maxVersion: number }
   ) => Promise<Array<MessageAttributesType>>;
-  saveMessage: (
-    data: MessageAttributesType,
+  saveMessages: (
+    data: ReadonlyArray<MessageAttributesType>,
     options: { ourUuid: UUIDStringType }
-  ) => Promise<string>;
+  ) => Promise<void>;
   maxVersion?: number;
 }>): Promise<
   | {
@@ -63,8 +69,8 @@ export async function migrateMessageData({
     );
   } catch (error) {
     window.SignalContext.log.error(
-      'processNext error:',
-      error && error.stack ? error.stack : error
+      'migrateMessageData.getMessagesNeedingUpgrade error:',
+      Errors.toLogFormat(error)
     );
     return {
       done: true,
@@ -74,20 +80,41 @@ export async function migrateMessageData({
   const fetchDuration = Date.now() - fetchStartTime;
 
   const upgradeStartTime = Date.now();
-  const upgradedMessages = await Promise.all(
-    messagesRequiringSchemaUpgrade.map(message =>
-      upgradeMessageSchema(message, { maxVersion })
+  const failedMessages = new Array<MessageAttributesType>();
+  const upgradedMessages = (
+    await pMap(
+      messagesRequiringSchemaUpgrade,
+      async message => {
+        try {
+          return await upgradeMessageSchema(message, { maxVersion });
+        } catch (error) {
+          window.SignalContext.log.error(
+            'migrateMessageData.upgradeMessageSchema error:',
+            Errors.toLogFormat(error)
+          );
+          failedMessages.push(message);
+          return undefined;
+        }
+      },
+      { concurrency: MAX_CONCURRENCY }
     )
-  );
+  ).filter(isNotNil);
   const upgradeDuration = Date.now() - upgradeStartTime;
 
   const saveStartTime = Date.now();
-  await Promise.all(
-    upgradedMessages.map(message =>
-      saveMessage(message, {
-        ourUuid: window.textsecure.storage.user.getCheckedUuid().toString(),
-      })
-    )
+
+  const ourUuid = window.textsecure.storage.user.getCheckedUuid().toString();
+  await saveMessages(
+    [
+      ...upgradedMessages,
+
+      // Increment migration attempts
+      ...failedMessages.map(message => ({
+        ...message,
+        schemaMigrationAttempts: (message.schemaMigrationAttempts ?? 0) + 1,
+      })),
+    ],
+    { ourUuid }
   );
   const saveDuration = Date.now() - saveStartTime;
 
diff --git a/ts/model-types.d.ts b/ts/model-types.d.ts
index 24b099191..1a366477e 100644
--- a/ts/model-types.d.ts
+++ b/ts/model-types.d.ts
@@ -205,6 +205,9 @@ export type MessageAttributesType = {
   //   background, when we were still in IndexedDB, before attachments had gone to disk
   // We set this so that the idle message upgrade process doesn't pick this message up
   schemaVersion?: number;
+  // migrateMessageData will increment this field on every failure and give up
+  // when the value is too high.
+  schemaMigrationAttempts?: number;
   // This should always be set for new messages, but older messages may not have them. We
   //   may not have these for outbound messages, either, as we have not needed them.
   serverGuid?: string;
diff --git a/ts/sql/Server.ts b/ts/sql/Server.ts
index cd9ec1bc2..4699837bf 100644
--- a/ts/sql/Server.ts
+++ b/ts/sql/Server.ts
@@ -4387,22 +4387,31 @@ async function removeAllConfiguration(
   })();
 }
 
+const MAX_MESSAGE_MIGRATION_ATTEMPTS = 5;
+
 async function getMessagesNeedingUpgrade(
   limit: number,
   { maxVersion }: { maxVersion: number }
 ): Promise<Array<MessageType>> {
   const db = getInstance();
+
   const rows: JSONRows = db
     .prepare<Query>(
       `
       SELECT json
       FROM messages
-      WHERE schemaVersion IS NULL OR schemaVersion < $maxVersion
+      WHERE
+        (schemaVersion IS NULL OR schemaVersion < $maxVersion) AND
+        IFNULL(
+          json_extract(json, '$.schemaMigrationAttempts'),
+          0
+        ) < $maxAttempts
       LIMIT $limit;
       `
     )
     .all({
       maxVersion,
+      maxAttempts: MAX_MESSAGE_MIGRATION_ATTEMPTS,
       limit,
     });